Until 24 September we can enjoy the exhibition El Renacimiento en Venecia. Triunfo de la belleza y destrucción de la pintura at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, a retrospective of 16th-century Venetian art. An exhibition bringing together almost a hundred artworks by artists such as Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, Jacopo Bassano, Giorgione and Lotto. Painters and architects, backed by their patrons, chose to stand out through light, colour and sensuality, using male and female models of extraordinary beauty inspired by classical culture.
For these few months Madrid becomes the city that holds the largest number of Venetian Renaissance paintings after Venice itself. Monarchs like Philip II were genuinely devoted to painters such as Titian. At the Prado we could already find some 70 artworks by Titian, 20 by Tintoretto and 16 by Veronese. Thanks to this exhibition at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum we can enjoy another 89 artworks, including paintings, sculptures, engravings and books.
A unique exhibition curated by Fernando Checa Cremades, professor of Art History at the Complutense University, which presents a carefully considered selection of subjects painted by the masters who made the Renaissance in Venice universally famous, rather than approaching them chronologically or stylistically. Visitors can see an extraordinary group of paintings, along with some sculptures, engravings and books, coming from private collections and museums such as the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, the Prado Museum in Madrid, the Fondazione Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, the National Library of Spain, the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the National Gallery in London.
The beauty of the Italian Renaissance
After the religious dominance of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance in Italy brought a time of light and beauty in art. While we can single out the Roman and Tuscan masters such as Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael, the Venetians also shone: Giorgione, Carpaccio, Titian, Tintoretto, Bassano and Veronese. The Venetians always went for colour, while the former went for drawing.
In the rooms of the Thyssen Museum we can take in that Venetian colour in artworks such as Tintoretto's Paraíso or Carpaccio's Joven caballero en un paisaje. The star of the exhibition may well be Veronese's El rapto de Europa, which had only left the Doge's Palace in Venice once, to be shown in Verona. Also outstanding are Lorenzo Lotto's Retrato de un joven en su estudio and Titian's Retrato de una mujer (La Bella) and Retrato de Francesco Maria della Rovere.
The exhibition opens with a magnificent view of Venice made by Jacopo de Barbari in 1500. It was the first time the city had been depicted realistically from a bird's-eye view. The woodcut is accompanied by three portraits of Venetian magistrates, embodiments of cosmopolitanism and luxury, signed by Gentile Bellini, Tintoretto and Veronese, three of the great artists of Venetian art.
Venetian Renaissance painting creates an idea of beauty all its own, ranging from the beauty of melancholy young men fond of reading or music to that of beautiful, sinful women. Besides Titian's three Magdalenes, we can see a marvellous gallery of young women painted by Palma the Elder, Sebastiano del Piombo, Titian and Veronese.
Beyond the portraits, we find beauty in the idealised nature of Jacopo Bassano's lovely Venetian pastorals or in Titian's imposing warriors, such as El retrato de Francesco Maria della Rovere. The show presents a good number of artworks by Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto but very few by Giorgione and Carpaccio.
Lastly, among all the paintings in the exhibition it is worth singling out Carpaccio's mysterious Joven caballero en un paisaje. We can also see Titian's three clothed Magdalenes together. The first two come from the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples. The third is a previously unseen painting from a private collection in Barcelona.
An unforgettable exhibition where you can take in the magic of Venetian Renaissance painting and enjoy the extraordinary pull of its beauty and colour.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Paseo del Prado, 8. 28014, Madrid. Temporary exhibition rooms, ground floor.
Tuesday to Friday and Sunday, 10 am to 7 pm. Saturdays, 10 am to 9 pm.
From 29 June to 2 September: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 am to 10 pm; Sundays, 10 am to 7 pm. Last admission one hour before closing.
Advance tickets at the box office, on the Museum's website and on 91 791 13 70
More information at www.museothyssen.org
Comments (0)
Log in to leave your comment. Log in